It is common in commercial and industrial surroundings for there to be various operating pipes and conduits exposed to the elements that extend along the ground and over the tops of roofs. For instance, these pipes and conduits may be connected to an air conditioning unit mounted on a building roof, or to various other service units. Frequently the pipes carry fluids where operating temperatures fluctuate over a wide range.
With temperature changes and/or with normal changes in the operating system parameters, the pipes expand and contract greatly, sometimes as much as 1 to 1.5 inches per linear foot. The support for these pipes as they run over the ground and/or over a roof must not only sustain the pipe load but also must be sufficiently flexible to withstand the expansion and contraction caused by fluctuation in operating parameters and the weather.
In the roof environment it is common practice for operating pipes to be supported by blocks of wood. The blocks are placed at intervals along the pipe track. They fit between the roof surface and the pipes. Partly because of the large contact surface area between a block and a pipe, the blocks frequently move. After a period of time, the movement of the block against a roof surface can cause damage. This usually results in a leak and requires expensive roof repair. Blocks have been nailed to the roof to prevent their movement, but the nails and the wood have proven to deteriorate in a relatively short time period. The blocks then break loose as before, and the system frequently results in the roof leaking about the nail holes in addition.
There is available a pipe holder for mounting on a roof that has a shaft mounted pulley or roller on which the pipe can rest and roll as it expands and contracts. This helps to prevent permanent problems due to the contraction and expansion of the pipes. It is still necessary with this system, however, to make holes in the roof for mounting purposes. Furthermore, the device is expensive. If many holders are required, they can cost more than a number of later roof repairs. As a result, this proposed solution to the problem of rooftop pipe support has not achieved a great deal of commercial success.
A non-fixed pipe-supporting device for roofs has been developed that comprises a substantially flat bottomed base having a support structure rising from the base. The design offers a channel or V-shaped support arrangement and purports to distribute the weight of the pipe over the bottom of the base. This system, however, teaches no underlying pad and more importantly, does not teach, suggest or propose to be capable of supporting pipe hung with a yoke. Especially in the environment of roofs, where pipe contraction and expansion is magnified, pipes not permitted to move sufficiently freely relative to their support can cause substantial damage to underlying surfaces.
The enhanced freedom of movement relative to the support obtained from hanging pipe from a suspended yoke is recognized. Hanging pipe via an adjustable yoke can accommodate greater pipe expansion and contraction in both axial and radial directions as well as torquing and skewing motions. However, the existing art teaches that such yokes are always secured to a firm overhead foundation, such as a ceiling, or suspended from a frame that is secured to a firm fixed foundation, such as a wall or a buried ground base.
In the roof environment, utilizing fixed bases would require holes to be placed in the roof surface. As discussed above, holes lead to leaks, a definite disadvantage of fixed bases. In general, fixed bases also lack a flexibility of adjustment during setup and use, and are expensive to reconfigure, a further disadvantage vis a vis portable bases.
A system for the use of a yoke for hanging pipe suspended from a frame attached to a portable base has not been taught or known in the art prior to this invention. There is no indication that anyone in the industry thought it feasible. It is herein disclosed, not only in a roof environment where its advantages are ample, but also in a ground based system. Even in the ground based system it offers advantages of ease of operation and flexibility. The absence of such teaching and practice in the prior art, where its efficiency and effectiveness would be clear, testifies to the current belief in the industry that pipe cannot be safely and securely hung from non-fixed bases.
The present invention discloses laying pipe with a yoke suspended from a frame attached to a portable base and further to utilize a set of such supports to hang pipe over a distance. On a roof surface the base is to be placed upon a pad, preferably adhered to the surface of the roof but alternately possibly adhered to the bottom of the base. The base is to distribute the weight of the pipe. The yoke should be adjustable.
It is the inventor's discovery that appropriate portable weight distributing bases do not impermissibly move out of position. The base system can be assembled quickly on location while being shipped in a broken down configuration. During set up and after use, the system can be adjusted as well as reconfigured, and the system can be utilized on the ground as well as on roof surfaces. Slanting surfaces can be compensated for by a wedge insert under the base. The combined adaptability, effectiveness, and efficiency of the system yields significant commercial advantages.
Not only will the instant system prove advantageous in supporting pipes over all sorts of surfaces, the base system involving a portable base resting on a pad adhered to the roof will also prove advantageous for supporting other rooftop loads, such as an air conditioning system.
The term "portable", as used herein with reference to a base, indicates that the base rests upon an underlying surface but is not permanently affixed to that surface. The base remains mobile, movable, and adjustable, in setup and afterwards. A portable base distinguishes itself from bases comprised of ceilings or walls or floors and from bases fixed into the ground.